Historically,
humanity has divided somewhat evenly into two diametrically opposed
camps: those who subscribe to a spiritual, theistic Weltanschauung
and those who do not. The philosophical milieu of ancient Greece illustrates
this division. In the theistic camp, one would find the likes of Socrates
and Plato. In the atheistic camp, one would find Democritus and Protagoras.
While the more deistic philosophies of both Lucretius and Aristotle
might present some exceptions to this division, one could convincingly
argue that deism is little more than a camouflaged form of atheism.

Since
the inception of the anti-theistic and anti-spiritual Weltanschauung,
numerous permutations of this philosophical camp have emerged. Materialists,
behaviorists, physicalists, functionalists, secular humanists, and
Marxists are just a few of the resulting variants. To be sure, the
countless theoreticians of these anti-theistic and anti-spiritual
camps have had their occasional epistemological feuds. Yet, all share
the same core metaphysical convictions: matter holds primacy and the
ontological plane of the physical universe constitutes the totality
of reality itself.

Of
course, the anti-theistic and anti-spiritual Weltanschauung adamantly
opposes most, if not all, religions. However, most contemporary movements
that have ostensibly eschewed a spiritual outlook have sociologically
behaved like religions. Communism and fascism are two such cases in
point. How does one explain this paradox? It is this researcher's
contention that the anti-theistic and anti-spiritual Weltanschauung
was spawned by an older religion. This religion is purely occult in
character and, because it acted as the progenitor for the anti-theistic
and anti-spiritual Weltanschauung, it remains deeply embedded within
the ostensibly secular mind. Thus, even the most stridently secular
movements are conceptually predisposed to religious thought and behavior.
Ultimately, the anti-theistic and anti-spiritual Weltanschauung is
designed to relocate the Eschaton of Heaven and Hell within the ontological
plane of the physical universe. Simultaneously, it relocates God within
man himself. The final result is a control ideology devoted to the
transformation of prima materia and a secular religion devoted to
the apotheosis of man.

Secular
Humanism: The Religion of Man Apotheosized

To
be sure, not every claim of paranormal or supernatural experience
is genuine. More than a few have been the products of sensationalism
and superstition. However, the outright rejection of all extraordinary
possibilities is symptomatic of epistemological rigidity, which can
stultify the broadening of human knowledge and the expansion of methods
for scientific inquiry. While institutionally accredited science has
typically eschewed the paranormal and supernatural, segments of the
scientific establishment are beginning to acknowledge the centrality
of supra-sensible entities to the examination of sensible phenomena.
In fact, many theoretical physicists and bio-physicists have observed
that science and mysticism are assuming convergent trajectories. Scientific
materialists typically suppress such contentions.

Regular
viewers of the National Geographic channel have probably already noticed
the cable station's overall prejudice towards the belief in a supernatural
reality and a transcendant God. Members of CISCOP (Committee for the
Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal) routinely appear
on National Geographic programs, offering so-called "scientifically
credible explanations" for otherwise unexplained phenomena. What
the National Geographic channel fails to mention is the fact that
CISCOP members are already ideologically predisposed to reject God
and the supernatural. Many CISCOP members are also secular humanists.
To understand what secular humanists believe, one need look no further
than 1973's second Humanist Manifesto for a succinct synopsis:

As
in 1933, humanists still believe that traditional theism, especially
faith in a prayer-hearing God, assumed to love and care for personas,
to hear and understand their prayers, and to be able to do something
about them, is an unproved and outmoded faith. Salvationism, based
on mere affirmation, still appears as harmful, diverting people
with false hopes of heaven hereafter. Reasonable minds look to other
means of survival. (No pagination)

Encapsulated
within this declaration is the anthropocentric aphorism of Protagoras:
"Man is the measure of all things." Human reason dethrones God and
becomes the chief facilitator for man's salvation. Salvation is redefined
within a purely Darwinian context as survival and the continuity of
the species becomes synonymous with immortality. If this Weltanschauung
seems religious in character, it is because it is actually the second
oldest faith in existence. Whittaker Chambers, former member of the
communist underground in America, eloquently observed:

"Humanism
is not new. It is, in fact, man's second oldest faith. Its promise
was whispered in the first days of Creation under the Tree of the
knowledge of Good and Evil: 'Ye shall be as gods.'" (Qutd. in Baker
206)

Simply
stated, humanism is the religion of self-deification. Its god is Man,
spelled with a capital M to connote the purported divinity intrinsic
to humanity. Atheism provides the philosophical segue for the enthronement
of this god. This enthronement begins with the recognition of a significant
paradox inherent to atheism. Authors Ron Carlson and Ed Decker explain:

It
is philosophically impossible to be an atheist, since to be an atheist
you must have infinite knowledge in order to know absolutely that
there is no God. But to have infinite knowledge, you would have
to be God yourself. It's hard to be God yourself and an atheist
at the same time! (17)

Indeed,
to conclude with all certainty that there is no transcendant God outside
the ontological plane of the physical universe, one must first claim
omniscience. However, omniscience is a trait reserved exclusively
for deities. Therefore, the claimant must conclude that he or she
is a god. In this sense, atheism is not the rejection of a deity.
Instead, it is the belief in emergent deity. The god that is gradually
evolving is Man himself and his development is guided by his own cognitive
powers.

Again,
this belief is nothing new. It was central to the religious doctrines
of the ancient Mystery cults, which were prominent in Babylon and
Egypt. Ever-present was the theme of humanity made divine through
the enthronement of man's reason. S. Angus contends that the central
theme of the Mystery religions was "that the march of mankind is Godward"
(43). Of course, not every adherent of the Mysteries necessarily subscribed
to this doctrine of apotheosis. Numerous motives compelled people
to accept the religion. Angus wisely observes:

Men
entered the Mystery-cults for different purposes: there were all
degrees of belief and unbelief, morality and laxity, mysticism and
realism. The carnal could find in orgiastic processions and midnight
revels opportunities for self-indulgence; the superstitious would
approach because of the magical value attributed to the formulae
and sacraments; the educated could, in the material and physical,
perceive symbols of the truth dear to his heart; the ascetic would
look upon initiation as a means of buffeting his body and giving
freedom to the spirit; the mystic would in enthusiasm or ecstasy
enjoy the beatific vision by entering into communion with God or
by undergoing deification. (42)

Thus,
only the most ardent mystics accepted the inner doctrine of apotheosis.
For the more carnally inclined, such doctrine was seldom acknowledged.
In fact, few were even aware of it. The ultimate objective of self-deification
was veiled by secrecy and semiotic manipulation:

The
secrecy with which the Mysteries terminated behind the veil of the
temple, compared with the publicity with which they generally commenced
in the streets, is explicable from the fact that the things "done"
or "said" were not the things actually to be revealed but merely
symbolic means of conveying the intended truth to the minds of the
votaries. (62)

A
similar culture of obscurantism exists in Freemasonry, which acts
as the retainer of the ancient Mystery religion. In fact, humanism
and Masonry have shared a long historical relationship. In The
Keys of this Blood, deceased Vatican insider Malachi Martin examined
the emergence of "a network of Humanist associations" throughout early-Renaissance
Italy (518-19). These organizations represented: a revolt against
the traditional interpretation of the Bible as maintained by the ecclesiastical
and civil authorities, and against the philosophical and theological
underpinnings provided by the Church for civil and political life.
(519) Although these groups espoused an ostensible belief in God,
their notions of a Supreme Being were largely derivative of the Kabbala:

Not
surprisingly given such an animus, these associations had their
own conception of the original message of the Bible and of God's
revelation. They latched onto what they considered to be an ultrasecret
body of knowledge, a gnosis, which they based in part on cultic
and occultist strains deriving from North Africa-notably, Egypt-and,
in part, on the classical Jewish Kabbala. (519)

In
Morals and Dogma, 33rd Degree Freemason Albert Pike reveals
that "all the Masonic associations owe to it [the Kabbala] their Secrets
and their Symbols" (Pike 744). According to Martin, however, the early
humanists modified this ancient Hebraic doctrine considerably:

Whether
out of historical ignorance or willfulness of both, Italian humanists
bowdlerized the idea of Kabbala almost beyond recognition. They
reconstructed the concept of gnosis, and transferred it to a thoroughly
this-worldly plane. The special gnosis they sought was a secret
knowledge of how to master the blind forces of nature for a sociopolitical
purpose. (519-20)

Many
of the semiotic artifacts comprising the early humanists' iconography
and jargon were also directly related to Masonry:

Initiates
of those early humanist associations were devotees of the Great
Force--the Great Architect of the Cosmos--which they represented
under the form of the Sacred Tetragrammaton, YHWH, the Jewish symbol
for the name of the divinity that was not to be pronounced by mortal
lips. They borrowed other symbols--the Pyramid and the All-Seeing
Eye--mainly from Egyptian sources. (Martin 520)

The
Great Architect of the Cosmos, the All-Seeing Eye, and the Pyramid
also comprise the esoteric semiology of Freemasonry. What is the explanation
for all of these commonalities? According to Martin, these shared
characteristics were the result of a merger between the humanists
and the old Mason guilds:

In
other northern climes, meanwhile, a far more important union took
place, with the humanists. A union that no one could have expected.
In the 1300s, during the time that the cabalist--humanist associations
were beginning to find their bearings, there already existed--particularly
in England, Scotland and France-medieval guilds of men who worked
with ax, chisel and mallet in freestone. Freemasons by trade, and
God-fearing in their religion, these were men who fitted perfectly
into the hierarchic order of things on which their world rested.
(521)

Evidently,
there couldn't have been two organizations that were more diametrically
opposed than Masonry and humanism:

No
one alive in the 1300s could have predicted a merger of minds between
freemason guilds and the Italian humanists. The traditional faith
of the one, and the ideological hostility to both tradition and
faith of the other, should have made the two groups about as likely
to mix as oil and water. (Martin 522)

Nevertheless,
the late 1500s would witness the amalgamation of these two groups
(Martin 522). The most evident corollary of this organizational coalescence
was a noticeable difference in recruiting practices:

As
the number of working or "operative," freemasons diminished progressively,
they were replaced by what were called Accepted Masons--gentlemen
of leisure, aristocrats, even members of royal families--who lifted
ax, chisel and mallet only in the ultrasecret symbolic ceremonies
of the lodge, still guarded by the "Charges" and the "Mason Word."
The "speculative"
mason was born. The new Masonry shifted away from all allegiance
to Roman ecclesiastical Christianity. (Martin 522)

Indeed,
the new Masonic doctrine appeared to be one that thoroughly eschewed
Christian concepts:

There
was no conceptual basis by which such a belief could be reconciled
with Christianity. For precluded were all such ideas as sin, Hell
for punishment and Heaven for reward, and eternally perpetual Sacrifice
of the Mass, saints and angels, priest and pope. (522)

The
new Mason was no longer an architect of freestone. Instead, he was
an architect of a Novus Ordo Seclorum. Out of the Lodge would
spring many varieties of sociopolitical Utopianism. Countless revolutionaries
would rise up against the dominant ecclesiastical authority and attempt
to install their own theocratic order. To be sure, much of the ecclesiastical
establishment was corrupt and in desperate need of reform.

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However,
the "alternative" offered by sociopolitical Utopians was far more
authoritarian than any of its religious counterparts. Moreover, their
Novus Ordo Seclorum was no less religious in character. The new secular
faith eviscerated the heavens and relocated all of religion's traditional
metaphysical concepts within the ontological plane of the physical
universe. The ultimate eschatological vision of this revolutionary
faith was the enthronement of the secular humanists' god: Man. For
part two click below.

Phillip D. Collins
acted as the editor for The Hidden Face of Terrorism. He has also written
articles for Paranoia Magazine, MKzine, NewsWithViews,
B.I.P.E.D.: The Official Website of Darwinian Dissent, the ACL Report,
Namaste Magazine, and Conspiracy Archive. In 1999, he earned an Associate
degree of Arts and Science. In 2006, he earned a bachelors degree with
a major in communication studies and a minor in philosophy. During the
course of his seven-year college career, Phillip has studied philosophy,
religion, and classic literature.

He has recently
completed a newly expanded and revised edition of The
Ascendancy of the Scientific Dictatorship (ISBN 1-4196-3932-3), which
is available at Amazon.com.
He is also currently co-authoring a collection of short stories, poetry,
and prose entitled Expansive Thoughts. It will be available late Fall
of 2006.